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At this moment, Obito was standing beside a nearby tree, seizing every second to continue his training.

His hands formed the "tiger" sign as he concentrated intensely, repeatedly stabbing at the tree trunk beside him. Wood chips flew everywhere, and the tree was covered with deep and shallow pits.

Though it seemed effortless, this action was actually quite tricky. It required him to constantly gather chakra in his index and middle fingers for protection. A single moment of inattention could result in a finger injury.

Obito's training didn't draw much attention from his classmates anymore. Lately, whenever he had time, he practised this technique. Many trees and walls at the ninja school bore the marks of his training.

At first, people curiously asked what technique he was practising, but Obito always remained secretive, saying, "You shouldn't know." Eventually, everyone got used to it and stopped paying attention.

Guy and Kakashi, who would occasionally observe Obito's progress, were the only ones who truly understood the technique he was practising.

Whenever they saw him carve more profound pits into the tree, both of them felt a slight twinge in their bodies.

After hearing the teacher's question, Obito finally stopped.

He gave Kakashi a meaningful look, then glanced down at his slightly swollen hands before nodding, "Yes, teacher, I forfeit."

Kakashi remained as expressionless as ever.

The taijutsu teacher scratched his head, a bit helpless. The taijutsu sparring during class was designed to maximise training by pairing students of similar strength. Obito sparring with Kakashi, who was ranked first in their year, signified that the taijutsu teacher acknowledged Obito's growing strength. Since joining Natsuhiko's sealing technique research group, Obito's taijutsu has improved rapidly.

Now, even without using the forbidden technique that had left him limping for weeks, Obito could fight Hyuga with evenly matched outcomes during sparring.

This meant that Obito's taijutsu grades were now among the top three in the class, alongside Kakashi and Hyuga—Of course, this excludes Guy, who was a complete outlier.

The taijutsu teacher realised that Guy always carried heavy weights, even during taijutsu sparring, and never revealed his true strength.

Naturally, the taijutsu teacher was pleased with Obito's progress, even though it had little to do with him. The only thing that frustrated him was that every time he paired Obito with Kakashi, Obito would immediately forfeit.

The teacher knew that Obito wasn't forfeiting out of fear. After all, he had heard about Obito's declaration last year that he would defeat Kakashi to stay in the ninja school. It was clear that Obito was avoiding the fight to hide his abilities and prevent Kakashi from figuring out his combat style.

Even during sparring with other students, Obito would only use basic techniques, minimising the information he revealed.

Not even the taijutsu teacher could gauge how much Obito had improved or when he would challenge Kakashi.

It seemed that the day Obito was confident he could defeat Kakashi would be the day of their duel.

Though the teacher couldn't help but think, "Is it essential to be so serious about a first-year challenge?" After all, back in the day, Uchiha Madara had only grabbed a fox to ride on when he came back to challenge the First Hokage.

Still, the teacher felt a rare surge of excitement at the thought of a "last-place student" surpassing a genius through hard work, friendship, and victory.

Indeed, boys will always be boys at heart.

So, he respected Obito's decision and didn't force the duel.

Now, he regularly checks in with Obito just to ensure he doesn't miss the fight. It was clear that these two students, as long as they survived, were destined to become extraordinary ninjas.

This duel might one day be historically significant. The taijutsu teacher couldn't help but want to be involved as a referee so that he could brag about it later.

However, much to his regret, Obito wasn't ready today either.

With no other choice, the teacher picked up the list and reassigned opponents to both of them. Of course, this privilege was reserved for the top students. If Obito had tried to forfeit before, the teacher would have yelled at him until his face was covered in spit.

The other students felt similarly. Disappointed that the long-anticipated duel didn't happen, they sighed in regret.

But neither Obito nor Kakashi were affected. They each swiftly defeated their reassigned opponents and left the arena.

Obito returned to the unlucky tree and resumed his training while Kakashi retreated to the back of the crowd, crossing his arms and closing his eyes to rest.

The constant noise from the tree being ravaged by Obito was still irritating to Kakashi, though.

"Damn idiot Obito!" a barely audible mutter escaped from beneath his mask.

Kakashi could sense that Obito's actions weren't so much about training but more about messing with him. And he had to admit, it was working.

Kakashi had been dreaming of Obito lately — dreams of him thoroughly defeating that idiot.

Unfortunately, in reality, Obito never gave him the chance! Even when Kakashi provoked him, Obito would still get just as angry as before, but he would calm down in the end and not take the bait.

Then, he would intensify his practice of that forbidden taijutsu right beside him.

One morning, Kakashi even found the two jujube trees in front of his house riddled with holes from Obito's practice.

Fortunately, Kakashi wouldn't have to put up with this much longer.

He lifted his eyelids and glanced at Obito, thinking to himself that the graduation exam was fast approaching. Obito didn't have much time left to challenge him.

— 

After school, on the rooftop of the ninja school building, the members of the sealing technique research group had not gathered in the office to draw symbols as usual. Instead, they were all on the rooftop.

That's because, during the recent group activities, they had completed the basics of learning how to draw projection technique seals. Under Natsuhiko's guidance, each of them had designed a rough draft of their unique projection technique and was finally moving on to the hands-on practice phase.

To avoid interference, the students spread out across the rooftop, repeatedly practising the usage of projection techniques.

Natsuhiko moved around, offering advice as needed. At this moment, he happened to stop near Kurenai, who was projecting a large tree in front of her. Natsuhiko smiled and nodded approvingly.

As expected, Kurenai, with her foundation in genjutsu, had the best grasp of the projection technique among the students.

Following Natsuhiko's suggestion, Kurenai chose a projection technique that could create projections of various environmental objects, allowing her to hide within them and silently cast genjutsu on her enemies. This blending of mental illusions and physical projections would indeed cause immense trouble for opponents in actual combat.

There was even a reason why Kurenai chose to project a tree as her first practice subject.

It was because she was skilled in a similar genjutsu — Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death! This technique made the target perceive the illusion of being bound by a tree's growing branches, rendering them immobile.

When explaining her idea, Kurenai proudly mentioned that the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, created the technique. Although it was just an ordinary genjutsu, it could make enemies believe they were facing the legendary Wood Release user, Hashirama Senju, striking fear in them and greatly enhancing the effectiveness of the illusion.

Here is the accurate translation:

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This ability to gauge people's thoughts, even using the reputation of his brother, Senju Hashirama, in his genjutsu, greatly inspired Konoha's genjutsu ninjas.

Thus, back in the day, the Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death was a must-have genjutsu for Konoha's illusionists.

However, after listening to Kurenai's proud explanation, Natsuhiko was left somewhat speechless.

After all, aren't there any more Wood Release users these days? 

Once this illusion is cast, as long as the enemy has average intelligence, they should quickly realise it's a genjutsu, right?

So, the First Hokage's unique reputation with Wood Release has become a drawback for this technique now!

No wonder, in the original story, the moment Kurenai used this technique, Itachi bounced it right back at her…

Clearly, this is an outdated skill—what we'd call a relic of a bygone era.

Yet, seeing Kurenai's sweet confidence at the time, Natsuhiko didn't have the heart to point it out to her face.

After all, only by experiencing it firsthand will she genuinely understand.

Coincidentally, Natsuhiko heard that the Uchiha clan had produced another genjutsu prodigy who would be attending the ninja academy next school year.

When the time comes, letting Kurenai spar with this person a few times should reveal the problem with her technique.

By the way, Natsuhiko had heard from Fugaku that this genjutsu prodigy's name seemed to be Uchiha Shisui…

After giving Kurenai a few pointers, Natsuhiko walked over to Asuma.

And then he noticed—Asuma's hair seemed a little green…

There is no hidden meaning here.

"Teacher Natsuhiko, you came just in time! Help me check if my hair has turned green?" 

Asuma said with excitement.

"It's green, but not fully."

Natsuhiko gave a severe assessment, then patted Asuma on the shoulder encouragingly. "Keep working at it."

"Got it!" 

Asuma cheered himself on. "I'll make sure my hair turns completely green!"

Something about this goal feels… off.

Natsuhiko mentally complained.

Asuma's approach to his shadow projection technique was to add various special effects to himself to create false impressions or appear weak to trick his enemies.

But for some reason, Asuma once pointed to his hair and said, "I want to dye this thing green."

However, since Natsuhiko was never one to stifle his students' imagination, he didn't stop this bold and avant-garde idea.

After offering Asuma a few more tips, Natsuhiko continued onward and arrived at Rin's side.

At the moment, there was an adorable little dog in front of Rin, performing various actions under her hand seals.

Seeing Natsuhiko approaching, Rin formed more seals, and the puppy walked over to Natsuhiko, stood on its hind legs, and bowed.

It was pretty cute.

Clearly, this was a projection created by Rin, who wanted to soothe people's hearts using small animals.

After giving the projection a once-over, Natsuhiko nodded in approval.

Though the projection still had several flaws, it was already quite suitable for a beginner.

Especially since the little dog looked lively, it seemed Rin had put in a lot of work.

Speaking of which, hadn't Rin said she wanted to visit Kakashi's house to see the dogs before?

Why does it feel like the guys in this study group are leaning heavily towards the colour green?

Natsuhiko mused internally before preparing to offer Rin some feedback.

However, just then, the little dog at his feet suddenly raised its head and, in a little girl's voice, said:

"Big brother, come play…"

Upon hearing this, Natsuhiko immediately shivered, feeling as if a childhood nightmare had jumped out to attack him.

Rin laughed and explained, "Teacher, I added a little girl's voice to the puppy. What do you think?"

Natsuhiko dryly replied:

"Very well done. Next time, please don't do it again."

"Hm?"

Rin blinked, confused.

"Ahem."

Natsuhiko cleared his throat and explained, "What I mean is, while the idea is good, it might take away the fun of guessing the meaning behind an animal's sounds."

"Besides, an adorable creature can convey complex meanings even with just three sounds: 'Pi,' 'Ka,' and 'Chu.'"

"Teacher, are you talking about the electric demon beast Pikachu that travels with the Onmyoji, Ash?"

Rin muttered thoughtfully, her eyes growing brighter.

"I get it now! The key isn't whether a creature can speak human language, but creating a logically consistent setting for the created entity!"

"No wonder, even though my projected dog has many behaviour patterns, it always feels unreal."

As she spoke, Rin gazed at Natsuhiko with admiration.

"And even though you said Pikachu is a fictional creature, Teacher, it feels so lifelike, as if it truly exists."

"Exactly, that's what I mean."

Natsuhiko smiled in satisfaction at his teachable student, though he felt a bit guilty inside.

After giving Rin a few more suggestions and encouraging her to keep practising, Natsuhiko continued walking forward…

(End of Chapter)

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